Creativity is a passion of mine. I try to get my hands dirty as often as I can. I have my hands in a variety of different mediums like film, design, sculpture, textile, painting, photography & writing and I think it's safe to say that I'm not a prodigy in any of those fields. This is fine by me because I see myself more as a determined, hard worker than a natural genius; which is why this article by Gladwell that I recently stumbled upon makes good sense.
Gladwell gives a speech at Columbia and discusses a theory by Galenson stating that the creative person is one of two types; either a genius who peaks in his mid twenties or a late bloomer who earns his master piece after perfecting his work over a lifespan. It's actually kind of funny because he compares Fleetwood Mac to the Eagles and then goes on to compare Picasso & Cizanne, Melville & Twain, Welles & Hitchcock, even Apple & Dell; each is an example of an early success and a late success. The difference between these two trains of thought is that the first knows their great idea and the second keeps working until they have something great. Galeson's book Old Masters & Young Geniuses highlights the life of innovators and artists to demonstrate how their creative thinking develops and becomes tangible.
For me it was reaffirming that I can still release my inner-genius even though I'm older than 26.
Yesterday Ed Cotton of InfluxInsights hosted The Influx Ideas 2007 Conference. The conference was an opportunity for great minds to converge and discuss the future of branding. There were a few interesting themes that provided insight into how branding is evolving.
- Branding will become more responsible for delivering an emotional experience. "Panasonic embraced an effort to use their technology to create the first battery operated airplane. Communities became passionate about the project and the resulting PR had a tremendous impact on the brand."
- Brands will be expected to provide an all encompassing experience. "Burger King has recently created 3 Xbox games that allows kinds to be entertained while interacting with their brand."
- Brands will be required to deliver genuine value based on what their brand promises. Consumers will seek meaning in what a brand claims. "The Chysler building is a great example of a car company who created an architectural icon that uses their building design to represent the aesthetic of the car."
- Brands must provide transparent sustainability solutions by fundamentally changing practices that are counter intuitive to the green movement. "Those who survive must provide a transparent solution that reveals a commitment to environmental and social responsibility."
- Customization will allow brands to connect with their consumers. An open source approach is important; embracing a consumer's individuality, creativity and ability to innovate makes the consumer feel like the brand is more a part of who they are.
- Brands will be required to communicate with their consumers not just provide communications to them.
We had the opportunity to hear from Jonah Bloom from Ad Age, Scott Wyatt from NBBJ Architects, Sarah Rich from worldchanging.org, Christian Simm from Swiss Next, Kent Nicholas from Ask A Ninja and Gregory Kennedy from Millions of Us. Here's what they had to say:
Creativity is a passion of mine. I try to get my hands dirty as often as I can. I have my hands in a variety of different mediums like film, design, sculpture, textile, painting, photography & writing and I think it's safe to say that I'm not a prodigy in any of those fields. This is fine by me because I see myself more as a determined, hard worker than a natural genius; which is why this article by Gladwell that I recently stumbled upon makes good sense.
